The Relative Disaster Job
by LoveAngel1705
Summary: Secrets have a way of making their way out into the open, even when they've been hidden by the best thieves in the world with the most amazing security.
1. Teaser

Summary: Secrets have a way of making their way out into the open, even when they've been hidden by the best thieves in the world with the most amazing security.

Disclaimer: I don't own Leverage, can't even steal it (not Parker here), but I do plan on borrowing it for a bit since this mischievous bunny named Plot won't leave me alone.

TEASER

These four loners that joined together with the former insurance agent had melded into a fairly cohesive team over the last few years, but they all still have their secrets. There are things that they can never tell each other even now. So, they hide those secrets away in their own special hiding places.

Parker hid her secrets in a safe guarded by multiple of her own security measures under a Federal Reserve Bank in Washington D.C. that she actually broke into once blindfolded, after she had the idea for one of the team jobs. Anyone would have to get past the security of the bank, before even thinking about getting past her own special brand of security.

Alec Hardison's secrets were deep in the darkest depths of cyberspace that no one could decrypt or hack, whether that may be the CIA, NSA, Interpol, or even Chaos (who he had caught trying once, probably thinking it was money that he'd siphoned away for an emergency stash). They were protected by viruses, wormholes, and encryptions that would take forever without knowing specifically how to shut them down and in what order to shut them down.

Eliot Spencer kept his secrets in a lock box buried in the yard of his childhood home where he lived with his mother, before joining the military, before meeting Aimee, but mostly before he became Eliot Spencer, Retrieval Specialist. They stayed there for one major reason: some of them began there and it always reminded him where he came from when he began to forget.

Sophie Devereaux, or whatever name she was going by at the time, kept her secrets locked safely away in storage units across the world, each under a different alias's names. Her deepest darkest secrets, though, were kept in a safety deposit box in Los Angeles under her true name, the one that Nate still had not earned the right to know.

Nate Ford's secrets were kept in the very last place anyone would look for his secrets, and where only one person in the world could ever actually find. He trusted his ex-wife Maggie to keep them safe forever and to tell him if anyone even came close. He still remembers placing the denial for the claim that would save his son Sam's life there in the small fire-proof safe, locked under the first statue he had retrieved from Sophie when chasing her across Europe, in his previous office at IYS insurance, and it only stayed there because it really was the last place anyone would look to find it. Eliot had told him several times that his biggest problem was that he thought too much, but sometimes he knew that thinking too much was his best security system.

They all forgot, though, that secrets have a tendency to come out, no matter how well they might be hidden.


	2. The Downhill Job

Summary: Secrets have a way of making their way out into the open, even when they've been hidden by the best thieves in the world with the most amazing security.

Disclaimer: I don't own Leverage, can't even steal it (not Parker here), but I do plan on borrowing it for a bit since this mischievous bunny named Plot won't leave me alone.

Chapter 1:

Parker smiled widely as she pulled the diamond off of its stand, taking a moment to imagine that this job was like it used to be before Nate drained all the fun out of stealing. She still didn't fully understand why she'd put the Hope Diamond back afterward anyway, beside that funny feeling in her stomach that she hadn't felt since she had been with her first family, before she was put in the foster system. The diamond was 4 carats and sparkled as the light hit it just right. Diamonds were her second favorite thing, right behind money, particularly with non-sequential serial numbers. She stroked the side of the stone, and forgot what she was doing for a moment.

"Parker, what's your status," Nate's voice reached her earpiece.

She straightened slightly, pulling herself back to the present, "coming out with the diamond."

"Eliot," Nate's voice questioned.

"I got her, Nate. We're clear on this end," Eliot said, voice growing louder as she left the vault and stood next to him.

Eliot growled at the sound of the alarms blaring through the building, before turning to Parker, "gotta go, Darlin'." Without questions, she followed the hitter through to the elevator and hit the button. Just as the door opened, multiple security guards rounded the corner.

Making a split-second decision, Eliot gently pushed her into the elevator. Parker knew that meant 'get out' and decided to go up to the roof; knowing her safest way to Hardison and Lucille included one of her favorite tools. She pulled out the zip line and harness in the elevator, strapping them on before leaving the elevator and jumping out a nearby window.

As always, she tried to ignore the sounds of Eliot's fight in her ear. Sometimes, she wondered if that's secretly why Hardison's constant chatter got more intense when Eliot was fighting, and possibly why Nate would almost go silent.

Sophie's voice sounded in her ear, taking on that slightly higher pitch it took when she was losing control of the mark. If no one on the team was listening, then no one would ever know the difference. Nate was trying to guide her through it, keep the billionaire hooked, and listen for Eliot through Hardison's constant babbling.

Either way, it was simply like every other con they pulled. They were on Plan G in Nate's little compendium of plans and heading quickly toward Plan H territory, while Hardison became increasingly agitated as the letter got closer to Plan M. Parker climbed into Lucille 2.0 with Hardison in the back and Nate in the driver's seat ready to take off if needed.

Sophie walked casually out of the building several minutes later with a hard look on her face and made her way to the passenger seat.

Sophie had barely sat down when a rough "damn it" ripped through the coms, accompanied by Eliot's growl of aggravation.

"Eliot?" Nate asked.

"Get them out of here Nate," Eliot grunted through the coms, sounding a little breathy to Parker. Before Nate even started to answer, Parker was running back to the building.

Parker, Nate, Sophie, and Hardison cringed as feedback roared into their ears, before a distinctive crunch signaled the crushed earpiece.

Parker was working the lock, when she saw Eliot running toward the door. She saw Nate leaving with the van, as Sophie's voice told her to steal a car. Parker smirked a bit as she quickly "worked the problem" on a 2004 Corolla.

Eliot got in the passenger side, while Parker pulled out into the road, once again driving like a mad woman. Eliot gave directions from the passenger side as a means to get away from the company's musclemen that were still following them. For once, he was actually happy that Parker was driving, because as insane as it sounded, it was better to have her behind the wheel with her experience as a getaway driver.

"Hardison, do something," Sophie's voice demanded through the earpiece.

"Do you people not get that the stuff I do takes time? I'm hacking into the light system through encryptions that are impossible for most people to crack. No one…" Hardison ranted, just as he always did.

Eliot interrupted gruffly, "Damn it, Hardison. Just do whatever it is you're gonna do and don't talk our ears off about it."

"You see what I have to deal with, do you see," Hardison questioned the universe before finally managing to get into the light system and change them to green.

Parker blazed through three, before Hardison's voice came through the coms, "there's a deep curve coming Parker. You need to slow down."

Parker, on the other hand, screamed the same scream that could usually be heard when she was jumping off buildings, and slammed down on the accelerator pedal, as a car met them turning the curve.

"Parker," Eliot growled, "what…"

Eliot didn't finish his sentence as the car as it hit the railing, before flying upward and over the side of a short cliff.

Sophie, Nate, and Hardison all held their breath as they heard the distinct sound of car parts crunching as they hit the ground.

Sophie found her voice after a minute, "Parker, Eliot, can you hear me? Hello? Eliot, Parker?"

Meanwhile Nate sent Lucille into a wild u-turn, while Hardison used the GPS to help Nate navigate to the others.

They arrived at the crash site two minutes and 45 seconds later to find the gunman's car stopped and headed down the side of the cliff.

Hardison pulled one of his older audio files off his computer, faking police sirens as they got closer. It spooked the gunmen, who ran back into their car and drove off in the opposite direction from where they came. At the same time, Sophie was still trying to get either Parker or Eliot to respond, but neither answered her calls.

Parker's head lay on the steering wheel, bleeding slightly. Her body was turned slightly awkwardly toward the place where Eliot should have been. She lay unconscious, while a moment of her life played through her head.

_Little Parker smiled, proud that she'd managed to teach him to ride the bicycle without the training wheels. Daddy had told her that she had two important jobs: teach him about the world and protect him. She left him outside; going inside to get the sandwiches mommy had left them for lunch._

_She made it outside, just in time to see Mr. Palmer from down the street hit Michael with his car. She dropped the sandwiches, running to get him. Her parents rounded the corner as Mr. Palmer called 9-1-1. He never woke up._

_Mommy and daddy were angry for weeks, because she hadn't done her job. She hadn't protected him. It wasn't long before she realized that they blamed her, especially when mommy took her to the grocery store and left her there._

Parker groaned a bit at the pain as she began to awaken. Slowly, her senses began to come back to her. Sophie's voice crackled in her ear, combined with the familiar sound that Hardison called feedback.

"Sophie," she asked quietly.

"Oh, thank God Parker. We're coming for you, stay still. How's Eliot?" Parker looked to the left, finally noticing the absence of the hitter. She began to panic, as she yelled for the man who should have been in the passenger seat.

Eliot, on the other hand, had apparently gone through the window, landing in a patch of grass. He was covered in glass and unconscious, remembering something from several years before.

_Eliot took a deep breath in relief. He'd managed to retrieve the Monet and get away with only having to hurt one guard. Some voice in the back of his mind told him this had been too easy, but he ignored it for the moment, slowing down the adrenaline that always rushed through him during a job._

_A voice stops him dead in his tracks, his head snapping immediately to attention. A man stood in front him, holding a gun to him at enough of a distance that he couldn't disarm the man without getting closer._

"_I don't believe we've had the pleasure, Mr. Spencer," Eliot scanned the area, searching for a quick weapon. _

_As a stall tactic, Eliot growled out, "Who are you?"_

_He seemed a little too straight cut to be holding that gun, and there was something about him, however minute, that told Eliot that this wasn't his normal opponent. The man stepped one step forward, answering, "Nathan Ford, IYS Insurance Investigator, and that Monet belongs to one of our clients."_

_Normally, Eliot would've scoffed or formulated an "appropriate response" to the situation at hand, but his mind stuck on that name, Nathan Ford. He'd heard stories of Nate Ford, and it took him a couple of seconds to recover from the shock of seeing the man._

_Those few seconds of hesitation cost him though. He ended up returning to his client without the Monet, earning him a small bounty on his head in Siberia, not as big as Croatia or Myanmar, but still significant._

Paramedics found Eliot Spencer not far from the car, and were unsure what kept him unconscious, other than the high amount of apparent blood loss.

They loaded him into the ambulance before Parker. Nate rode with him, concocting a cover story through their coms as they rode with Parker, Sophie, and Hardison in the second ambulance.


	3. The Hospital Job

Summary: Secrets have a way of making their way out into the open, even when they've been hidden by the best thieves in the world with the most amazing security.

Disclaimer: I don't own Leverage, can't even steal it (not Parker here), but I do plan on borrowing it for a bit since this mischievous bunny named Plot won't leave me alone.

Chapter 2

Nate was beginning to really worry. They'd made it to the hospital moments ago, and doctors were rushing 'Eliot Sanderson' to surgery. A short, brunette nurse had just asked Nate about his 'brother's' medical history. Although he had a bare bones history for everyone on his team, there were some things that he just never thought to ask, like blood type or medicinal allergies.

Nathan had taken out his ear bud when he'd gotten to the hospital and realized how serious the situation had become. He knew Sophie and Hardison were worried enough, especially riding with Parker. The young blond had quickly fallen back into unconsciousness following Sophie talking to her through her earpiece. Nate didn't want to worry them by letting them know how seriously Eliot was hurt. He tried to ignore Parker's voice from just a week ago and couldn't hide his accompanying smile at her innocence, "_No one can hurt him. He's Superman, come to save us from big bad Lex Luthor and his billionaire friends." _Sometimes it seemed that really was the case, right down to the bald billionaires, but right now it wasn't the case. Other than a serious concussion, there were some very dangerously place glass shards and that was all the doctors had told him, yet there was definitely something more problematic, given the twenty percent chance of survival.

Nate took a deep breath to center himself, and then pulled out his cell, saying Hardison aloud so the phone would dial out. Hardison answered on the second ring, still in the ambulance with an unconscious Parker and a frantic Sophie. He checked the phone, and answered upon seeing Nate's name. Skipping pleasantries, he answered, "How's Eliot?"

Nate ignored the hacker's question, not wanting to upset the others any more at the moment, "Hardison, I need you to find some medical files for Eliot and Parker. We need blood types, allergies, anything you can get."

Hardison's eyes narrowed, just as it usually did immediately before one of his rants, and Sophie quickly and quietly warned him not to startle the still unconscious thief. He lowered his voice, before ranting into the phone, "You do realize that Parker has no last name and came out of the foster system, and then there's Eliot whose name is still possibly an alias and anyone looking into him could alert any number of people to his location. Worse still, he'd be vulnerable and we might not be able to protect him. Come on, now. You know I'm amazing, but…"

"Just do it, Hardison," Nate's voice grumbled, cutting him off and hanging up his cell.

Despite Hardison's rant, his fingers moved across the keyboard of his laptop, searching for anything to help Parker or Eliot and carefully avoiding anything that might raise any red flags. Every few minutes, Alec's eyes would fall on Parker's body, taking in the bruises and various signs that she'd recently been hurt. It made his stomach churn to think about, though, so he would turn back to the computer searching through Child Protective Service databases to find something on Parker.

Sophie made an effort to stay out of the way of the paramedics, while still keeping a gentle grip on Parker's hand and running a comforting hand across her cheek and hair when she'd begin to squirm or show outward sign of pain. Sophie could feel Parker calming down at her familiar, gentle touch. She turned at a quiet shout of joy from Alec, as he dialed Nate's phone number.

"I found Eliot's medical papers, or should I say Spencer. According to this, Eliot's real name is Spencer Eliot Carter. How did no one ever look for that? He's going to…"

Sophie interrupted, "Hardison, focus."

"As far as I can tell there are no allergies to medicines and his blood type is A-, which means…" Hardison began, only to be interrupted again.

"I know what it means Hardison. I'm A- too, so if nothing else, I can donate. Anything else that sticks out," Nate asked.

Hardison continued scanning the documents, "not that I can see. I'll bring Parker's with me when we get there. Shouldn't we be worried about taking Eliot to a hospital anyway? The guy racks up enemies like Sophie racks up shoes."

Hardison nearly laughed at the indignant look on Sophie's face, but the situation was weighing heavily on him and the rest of the conscious part of the team. Nate's assuring voice answered the youngest member, "we'll have to deal with that if and when it becomes a problem. Eliot needs to be in a hospital."

Hardison knew Nate was trying to keep him calm, but the idea that Eliot, who Parker claimed to be indestructible, was in bad enough shape to need a hospital said more than if Nate had just told him the truth.

Sophie and Hardison felt the ambulance slow as it turned into the parking lot of the hospital and attempted to stay out of the way of the paramedics, doctors, and nurses that swarmed the emergency vehicle. Soon, the two followed the medical personnel and Parker into the hospital, hoping for the best.

Once inside, Hardison returned to working on the computer to find any information that could help their friends through this. Searching into Parker's past was difficult at best and frustrating at worst, but eventually he found her medical records. She was AB+, and had an allergy to sulfa drugs. He told the doctors about his 'fiancé's' medical information, as they got her into a room and began checking her over. He'd barely noticed Sophie and Nate quietly talking in the corner, but even that quick glance clued him in to the small flask Nate used to pour alcohol into a plastic coffee cup. He could almost hear, even from his distance, Sophie's insistence that now was not the time for him to be drinking, and Hardison couldn't help but agree.

He turned back to his computer, hoping to check and make sure that no one had broken through any firewalls to find any information that he was using, when a doctor stepped out of a double door at the opening to hospital wing from the waiting room, asking for the family of Eliot Sanderson. In moments, he joined Nate and Sophie as the doctor led them into a small room filled with chairs flowers and a serious-looking doctor.

Elsewhere, Parker awoke in a room that smelled of disinfectant. She was laying on a bed about as comfortable as the cot that foster family number seven made her sleep in when she lived there. She could hear the swooshing of the air that nestled itself between the people who were talking just a bit too loud. Opening her eyes, she looked around to see machinery and people.

Parker's eyes then narrowed in on a nurse who was rounding the corner with a small clear container, filled with a slightly amber colored liquid, which also had a needle around an inch long. Needles were bad. Needles meant drugs. Drugs meant fuzzy heads and hands that didn't stay where they belonged. Needles were an invention of the devil himself, or maybe Lex Luthor or some other equally evil villain.

"No," Parker told the nurse, her voice sounding, funny, gravelly or at least what she imagined gravel would sound like if it weren't a rock and could talk. The thought brought a tiny, passing smile to her face, as she imagined some piece of gravel with big circular eyes and a mouth that looked like Alec's mouth. The point was that she was hoarse and not sure exactly why some lady was coming at her with an evil needle.

Apparently the nurse saw where her eyes were stationed, and assured her, "it'll help with the pain."

Parker opened her mouth again, this time it sounded less gravelly and hurt just a little less, "no drugs, I don't do drugs."

At this, Parker moved to get her out of the bed, but a male nurse held her down. He told her that they were only trying to help with a bit of a southern drawl, like Eliot had.

Her brain stopped on that. Where was Eliot anyway? She couldn't find him when she was in the car. Why was she trying to find Eliot in the car anyway? Didn't he usually drive a truck? Nate had a car, a mid-life crisis car that he called responsible. Sophie and Alec had cars too, but Eliot definitely had a truck, so why was she looking for him in the car.

Parker barely registered the steady beeping grow more rapid, as she started trying to remember. There was something important that she should know, but it was apparently jumping out of her brain and zip-lining to her feet, something about Eliot.

She could see the nurses and doctors talking to her, but she couldn't seem to focus on them, other than the one with a mustache that looked like he had drawn it on with a marker of course. Something was wrong. Her stomach knew it, because it was doing that thing where it felt like it was being squeezed like a stress ball every few seconds.

Something was wrong with Eliot. He wasn't in the car, but then neither was she. She was in the hospital, and Nate wouldn't take her here unless something was wrong with her. He hated hospitals because of Sam.

"Shh, Parker, you're all right. You're safe here," a familiar and soft voice explained, catching her off guard. She knew that voice. How long had she been wondering about Eliot anyway? When did the doctors and nurses leave and Sophie come in?

Her eyes moved to match face with voice and see Sophie standing over her, combing her hair out of her face and speaking softly to her. When did Sophie get here, and why did she have red eyes that made her look like a raccoon?

She didn't know, so she did the only thing she could, she asked, "why do you look like a raccoon?" It was Sophie and Sophie never minded answering her questions. She heard a startled choke to her left that usually meant someone thought she was strange or something, and was usually accompanied by a confused look. She turned to see Hardison, coughing, gummy worms in hand.

"Oh, Parker," Sophie began, the same way she always did when she was about to explain something to her about the "normal" people, but she didn't this time. No, she simply stepped forward and wrapped her arms around a stiff and confused Parker, who looked to Nate now to explain.

Nate moved forward for a moment, grabbing Sophie's shoulders and pulling her back a bit. He whispered in her ear, but Parker could still hear them because it was a small hospital room. Nate had told Sophie to go check on Eliot. Sophie nodded quietly and turned, so Parker decided to ask before she left, "Why was I trying to find Eliot in a car? He drives a truck, right?"

On her left, Hardison shifted, stood, took the two steps to the bed, and motioned for Nate and Sophie to go check on Eliot, indicating that he'd handle it. Parker watched curiously as they left, before looking at Hardison, noticing now that he looked very tired.

"Do you want to sleep on the bed? I'll just go into the vent," she said, and watched as Alec's face got scrunched and she could see wrinkles that had never been there before.

Hardison took a deep breath, "Parker, do you remember what happened when the job went south?"

The conversation lasted until Parker couldn't fight the effects of the pain medication in her IV anymore, and faded off to sleep. Alec covered her with the blankets, kissed her head gently, and settled down for a long night in a chair. He just hoped he'd be able to handle the stiff back in the morning.

He tried to ignore the fact that Nate was being type tested right now, because something had happened in the crash that had caused Eliot's kidneys to shut down and he was probably going to need a new one.

Hardison again grabbed his computer. He needed to find someone related to Eliot. Nate may be type testing, but the best match is family, at least that's what all the doctor shows on TV and the surgeon on Eliot's case said.

**A/N: Okay, I know there is a lot of set-up, but things are finally to the point that some of the plot ideas will come into play. Hope you enjoyed it and I'd like to say thank you to all of you who did the story alerts or commented. I appreciate it!**


	4. The Personal History Job

Summary: Secrets have a way of making their way out into the open, even when they've been hidden by the best thieves in the world with the most amazing security.

Disclaimer: I don't own Leverage, can't even steal it (not Parker here), but I do plan on borrowing it for a bit since this mischievous bunny named Plot won't leave me alone.

**Small Note: For the first part to make sense, you need to know that is actually set sometime after The Boost Job and remember that there is a concussion involved here, thrown out of a car and all.**

Chapter 3

Eliot Spencer could see and hear the people working around him, and was trying to figure out why and how he had managed to get himself into a hospital. He vaguely remembered doctors coming in earlier, explaining something about his kidney.

This was the exact reason he hated pain killers. Whatever these people had him on made it hard to focus on anything, which may not be horrible for most people when in a hospital, but for him it could mean death. The Retrieval Specialist had made his fair share of enemies over the years, and most of them would have no qualms with kicking him while he was down.

Worse than that, he was having trouble remembering why he was here in the first place. He was in the United States at least. There were many other much less pleasant options, like Myanmar or anywhere in Russia.

He'd managed to gather a couple of things to hide away and use as weapons if necessary, like the syringe that was already tucked inside the mattress and the scalpel laid safely under his pillow.

Eliot had just awakened for the second time, seeing several doctors and nurses leaving the room.

Naturally, then, his hand reached for the scalpel as he heard the gentle opening of the door. He glared, completely awake and as focused as the medication would allow, at the intruder. He released his grip only marginally when he saw Nathan Ford walk into the room.

Ford had become somewhat of an enigma over the years, from the surprise at their first meeting to the way he'd managed to help him through the injuries of his captivity in Turkey, despite the fact that they'd been on opposite sides. Most would've just left him to die.

At the time, it'd seemed like they'd come to some sort of understanding, maybe even had a connection, in Turkey, even to the point where he'd stood in the back at Sam's funeral, never noticed. He'd watched Nathan and his wife (Maggie, some part of his brain supplied) mourn. The idea that they'd sparked some kind of acquaintance, if not friendship, had been dashed away on the Dubenich job, when he'd made the sideways comment about them not being friends. What was he doing here anyway?

"Ford," he growled out, "what's going on here?"

"You were in a car accident. Do you remember that much," the former insurance investigator queried.

Eliot tried to think back, but the memory wasn't there, and he quickly attributed it to the drugs that were making it so difficult to focus on anything. He shook his head, still carefully taking stock of the room he was in, exit strategies, and possible weapons in case of emergency.

"You and Parker were in a car getting away from a job, but you were followed and run off the road," Nathan supplied.

'Parker,' he thought, 'that crazy little thief is going to be my death.' Instead of voicing his thoughts, he asked, "Parker's okay though?"

"Just scraped and bruised a bit, and not reacting well to the drugs they gave her," Nathan answered, and Eliot couldn't help but notice the man was giving more information than he usually did. He was really starting to make Eliot nervous, and he tried to ignore that his hand was tightening on the scalpel. Something was not right. He could feel it. Call it whatever you will, but that sense had gotten him out of more scrapes than fighting had.

He growled, finally willing to voice the question playing in the back of his mind, "What are you doing here Ford?"

He observed Nathan's surprised face, before the man schooled it into that expression he got when he was working out the kinks in a plan or when he was wondering if someone was getting too involved in what they were doing.

Eliot wanted to scream out of both frustration and confusion, when instead of answering his question, Nathan told him, "the doctor's are saying you need a transplant. Do you have any family I can track down?"

There was something really wrong here, and Eliot couldn't put his finger on it. Since when did Nathan Ford care? Wasn't it just a month or so ago that he told him, in no uncertain terms, that they weren't friends, so it didn't really matter what he thought about Sam's death?

Eliot growled lowly, "give me a phone."

Nathan obliged, handing him a cell, knowing he meant a safe phone. The hospital lines were nowhere near secure. Eliot dialed the ever familiar number to his sister's place, only to get a message saying that number had been disconnected. He tried to ignore the panic that crept in, while he dialed out to her cell phone, instead of the house phone.

"Hello," her voice answered from the other end, and he let out a small breath, knowing she was safe.

"Hi darlin', we need to talk. How soon can you get to Los Angeles," Eliot noticed Nathan shaking his head, mouthing 'Boston.' "I meant Boston," he said now slightly more confused. He'd never even been to Boston, except for the Dagger of Aqua'bi job.

"A day or so, why," she asked.

"I'll talk to you about it when you get here. Oh, and Lizzy, can you bring something with you, just in case?"

"Sure," she answered, well used to him having odd requests for her, "I've got some paperwork in a lockbox buried at the base of the tree you fell out of and broke your wrist in third grade. It's important, Lizzie. Don't open the box, just bring it here."

"Where in Boston," she asked. Eliot looked toward Nathan, trying to ignore his brain telling him just how wrong this was, "Which,"

"Massachusetts General Hospital," Nathan answered, and he repeated it to his sister, who then proceeded to rant about all the danger he puts himself in and how completely unnecessary she finds it to be.

* * *

><p>Elsewhere, Robert Banks III searched through the security tapes that had chronicled the break-in from the previous night, replaying them over and over. He focused on one person in particular, though. He just needed her to turn another quarter inch to her left, and he would confirm that it was exactly who he thought she was. The dark hair was throwing him a bit, but the way she sashayed into the room and demanded attention was just like his Caitlyn.<p>

He'd re-watched the tape twelve times already, but finally he saw it and paused. Oh yes, that was his Caitlyn. She was supposed to be dead. He had seen the reports, attended the funeral, and mourned accordingly.

So, he had to ask himself how and why she was here talking to the President of his company. Sure, it didn't look like his company and no paperwork or proof would ever trace its way back to him. He couldn't have his 'associations' public. It really was dirty work when one had to pay off or blackmail judges, and he preferred not to have them look at him the way several officials within the British government had.

Yet, despite all of that, he had to wonder if she knew. Caitlyn had always been highly intuitive, which is part of the reason he had her taken out in the end, despite his devotion to his lovely wife.

If she really was alive, and getting involved in his business, then he'd have to deal with her again. He knew that she feared him greatly, partly intuition and partly because the lady refused to learn certain lessons, such as the inappropriateness of listening in on his business dealings. She was a lady, and should never been involved in such things.

Robert opened the drawer of his desk, pulling out a small black notebook and opening it to the fifth page. He plowed through the names of wet-works professionals before he found the one he knew would be best for this job. He had committed several of his contracts and was his most reliable staffed "specialist," Josiah Russo.

Looking down at the footage, he seethed watching another man touch his Caitlyn's arm, before she linked it with her own and exited the building, just as eloquently as ever.

Upon closer inspection, he realized that he knew the man. That man had helped retrieve a stolen Van Gogh from his collection that had been insured by IYS insurance, Nathan Ford.

Now, he had a starting point, so he began dialing the number of the assassin and making the necessary plans, but first he needed Intel. So, he began searching the little book again for one of the hackers he'd worked with in the past, spotting the name CHAOS and smiling widely.

* * *

><p>Across town, in Leverage headquarters, or Nate's apartment, Hardison pecked at the computer, flying through information. Once he'd gotten a bit of an idea as to Eliot's real name, his curiosity had gotten the best of him. What he didn't know couldn't hurt him, right?<p>

He tried to ignore the nagging in his head insisting that Eliot would pound him into pancakes for Parker to eat for invading his privacy this way.

Information danced across the screen, and he looked through it for any indication of family members that would be able to help at the moment. Writing it down for Nate, just in case, he found a half sister named Elizabeth Johnson.

He worked through then, eventually finding medical birth records naming his mother, but no father. Her name was Emily Carter, and she had died in childbirth with Elizabeth. At the time, both Eliot (Spencer at the time) and Elizabeth were taken into the custody of Anthony Johnson.

Now he had names, at least, to keep Eliot from dying hopefully. Some latent curiosity surfaced though, and Hardison knew he had to know more. Eliot was a stranger to cyberspace; there was no way he'd ever find out, right? He was being careful, so no unexpected person got into his system.

He sneaked a little further into the hitter's background to find that he and his sister had been removed from Anthony's care six years later, put into the foster system with their files sealed.

Man, he knew the guy was paranoid, but Eliot had known that Hardison and Parker had grown up in the system. Why had he never mentioned anything?

His ponderings stopped at the sound of an aggravated beep from his precious baby. After looking for several seconds, he found a worm trying to backdoor its way into the system. Typing furiously, he alternated between deleting (permanently) recent searches, feeding a virus into the enemy system, and identifying the hacker through either his handle or style, whichever worked.

He growled, startling himself as to how much he sounded like the hitter. This was his turf, though, and no one came at the team through his system. There had only been one who'd ever tried, and it took only a second to realize that it was the same hacker trying again.

Chaos!

He was still working through deleting any searches on Eliot's past, when Chaos exited his system. All Hardison could do was check the logs and find out what his rival had attempted to get about Eliot.

Except when he finished running his diagnostics, he was slightly confused to find that he hadn't been after anything about Eliot.

Why had Chaos gone after Sophie's information? He had been so busy trying to protect Eliot's background, that Chaos had easily gotten information on multiple of Sophie's aliases and back stories.

Wait, the last time Chaos went after Sophie…

He couldn't finish the thought, as he dialed Sophie, packed his laptop and headed out the door of Nate's apartment. He'd never be able to forgive himself if his negligence cost one of them their life. That was all there was to it.

When Parker answered the phone, he insisted she give it to Sophie.

"But she's sleeping," whined Parking, holding out the 'ee' sound longer than necessary.

"I need to talk to Sophie, now Parker," Hardison answered without his usual comforting and humorous attitude. It made Parker nervous. The only time Alec ever spoke like that to her something was very wrong.

"Sophie," she called, and her friend promptly lifted her head, grabbing the phone from the unusually docile thief.

"Hello," Sophie greeted.

"Chaos got into my system Sophie. I...I screwed up. I was so busy trying to protect everything I'd been doing on finding Eliot's family for the transplant, and I didn't…I'm so sorry…I just wasn't…"

Sophie interrupted, "Hardison, just tell me what he got and we'll deal with it. It will be okay. I promise."

There was something about Sophie telling him that that calmed him down enough to tell her. She really was the best at taking care of them.

Her voice continued, "Take a deep breath, and then tell me Alec."

She never seemed to call him Alec and the use of his first name caught his attention, and he quickly obeyed, taking a deep breath before saying, "Chaos got at least your aliases and their profiles. For what, I don't know, but last time…just don't pick up any vases any time soon. I'm on my way to the hospital."

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed it and I'd like to say thank you to all of you who did the story alerts or commented. I appreciate it!**


	5. The Donor Job

Summary: Secrets have a way of making their way out into the open, even when they've been hidden by the best thieves in the world with the most amazing security.

Disclaimer: I don't own Leverage, can't even steal it (not Parker here), but I do plan on borrowing it for a bit since this mischievous bunny named Plot won't leave me alone.

**Small Note: You need to know that is actually set sometime after The Boost Job and remember that there is a concussion involved here, thrown out of a car and all.**

Chapter 4

Alec wasn't sure what he was going to do, but he continued speeding down the interstate to the hospital. The problem was that the 'punching people and protecting people' thing was Eliot's area. Sure, he had considered himself a cyber ninja on several occasions, slaying the world with keyboards, IP addresses, backdoors, worms, and other technical necessities, but the possibility of bombs, guns, and knives had him crying for his Nana, sometimes literally. He was secure enough in his masculinity to admit it.

Eliot couldn't help though, and from Nate's earlier call, there might be more trouble than just the kidney for him. Apparently the concussion was causing some confusion or something that was bothering Nate, who'd only left Eliot's side for short spurts of time when he'd switch with Sophie to stay with Parker for a while. They were both eating and sleeping in the rooms with Eliot and Parker at the moment.

All of that left him as the only one who could really protect Sophie, and that made him more nervous than anything, as he pulled into the parking garage. Sophie and Nate had switched rooms just after he called her, because Parker was becoming jumpy at seeing Sophie upset. He made his way up to Eliot's room, and prayed everything would be okay.

There really just wasn't another option. He wasn't sure he could be on his own again, without Eliot watching his back, Parker driving him crazy, Nate giving him purpose, or Sophie taking care of him. Somewhere along the line, he knew they'd become dependent on each other for one thing or another, no longer the loners they'd once been. It was part of what pulled them back together after the Second David fiasco when they split from each other.

Sophie shushed him as he walked into the room, pointing to a much more vulnerable looking Eliot. He had seen him a couple of times since the 'accident', but he really wasn't okay with seeing him like that and knew Eliot couldn't be happy that he was in a hospital. He tended to get as agitated in them as Nate, sometimes more so. He heard Sophie quietly tell him, "Eliot's sleeping."

"Right. Good. Sleeping. The man should sleep," Alec began, only for Sophie to gently grab his arm and guide him down to the chair.

Sophie spoke quietly, so as not to wake Eliot, "Okay, tell me what happened. Nate's listening through the ear bud, but we decided it might not be a great idea for Parker to hear it right now."

"Yeah, she might do something Parker-ish," Hardison began before recounting his internet exploits before, during, and moments after Chaos attacked his system.

Nate's voice cut through the ear bud, saying, "So we need to protect Sophie, Parker, and Eliot. Hardison, I need you to dig deeper into the company itself. We need any kind of paper trail that we can follow. Our mark may be a greedy man, but I don't think he has these connections. There may be a silent partner. Meanwhile, Parker is getting her release papers in the next hour, and I think she's okay to help."

"What about Eliot," Sophie asked. Hardison was avoiding looking at him for anything, but Sophie seemed to have no such compunctions. He just couldn't convince himself that Eliot was as hurt as he seemed. This was a man who he'd seen walk away with three bullets in him and care for himself. Some part of his brain kept asking how it was that a car wreck was the thing to keep him down.

Meanwhile, from his bed, Eliot continued to pretend to sleep while Hardison and Sophie spoke. At this point, he was gathering information about whatever happened and why he needed a new kidney of all things. It was easy to peak one eye open, since Hardison was trying desperately not to look and Sophie had her attention focused on Hardison, worry etched on her face.

He'd learned to appear asleep years ago, when he was being interrogated and imprisoned by a warlord bent on revenge for some feud or another. After a while, it hadn't seemed to matter. Then again, it may have been that it was when he was working for Moreau, before the man had convinced him to do the incorrigible. It wasn't a time in his life of which he was particularly proud. He still wrestled with his association with Moreau.

Either way, Hardison was worried. He was clear on that much, but who exactly was Chaos and why would he want Sophie dead? He just added it to the growing number of things that were making less and less sense. Nate had handed him a newspaper earlier, and he could only hope he'd masked his shock well enough from the former insurance investigator. He was missing close to three years of memory.

The whole situation was proving him wrong. He'd been sure that this team had been a temporary set-up. Nate was well on his way to self-destructing. Sophie was a liar by nature, and not to be trusted. Hardison was a big kid who really should be in college, rather than in a world where he could be killed with the wrong keystroke. Then, there was Parker. Something was wrong with that girl, a walking, talking oxymoron: utterly naive, but hardened too much by the world. That was without having him there. Sure, it felt good to possibly do some good to counteract (because it would never erase) some of the evil he'd done.

He heard Hardison clamor on about looking into his past, who he barely managed not to growl at, before explaining all about the guy coming after Sophie. Parker somehow appeared out of nowhere, which had stopped surprising him a week ago, or maybe three years and a week ago. She sat on the arm of Hardison's chair, holding out what looked to be a dozen bags of…something.

Sophie looked puzzled too, before Parker explained, "pudding," as if that made the least bit of sense.

Nate stood back a bit behind her, "maybe we should take this somewhere else."

Parker asked curiously, "why?"

"We shouldn't wake Eliot, Parker," Sophie answered.

"Eliot's not asleep though," she began, "he's listening already, and you said it's rude to talk about people without them knowing."

Eliot could feel the eyes move to him, but he was saved from having to come up with a response by the entrance of a doctor.

"I have some good news," the doctor began, not wasting time, "we've found a donor."

"That was quick," Parker noted, and Eliot sent a small glare her way to shut her up. When she just smiled back at it, all he could thing was that he'd spent too much time with these people. Parker didn't even respond, and he wanted to scream that she should be afraid of the dangerous hitter. Then again, maybe she just didn't understand that she should be scared. Just a month ago, at least that he remembered, he first watched her dive head first off a 20 story building.

Nate was the one to speak, bringing him back to reality. He knew the answer already. Some part of him just wished that he could put this off a little longer, maybe until a couple thousand years after he died. He didn't listen as the doctor talked about how his 'brother' was such a close match for donor kidney. Where was Lizzy with that stupid box anyway? It was looking more and more likely that its contents would be necessary, as much as he hated it.

He looked at Nate in his peripheral vision, and could see that he was assessing him and probably the whole situation. The doctor babbled on about treatment and surgery for twelve minutes, before he left. Parker, Hardison, and Sophie followed with relieved smiles and hidden grins on their faces.

He heard Hardison animatedly babble to Parker, "I'm taking him to Vegas soon, Eliot has some crazy kind of luck. Do you know what the chances are that someone completely unrelated to someone else could actually just be a donor?" Hardison's voice faded as he got further and further away from the room.

He locked eyes with Nate, waiting for whatever the older man was about to say. He looked rough, and Eliot could only attribute it to the hospital and memories of Sam.

Sure, the team had apparently stayed together for longer than any of them imagined and he was looking at the last honest man (or so he assumed). No one was that good, though. He really didn't expect him to do this. He had been surprised when they'd told him that the whole team had been tested, but no one should have to do this. The niggling voice in the back of his head added that '_this was his punishment, and he should take it like a man.'_ The voice sounded suspiciously like Lizzy's father, but he didn't hang on too hard to that.

"Do you have something you want to tell me," Nate asking, voice portraying that man thought he knew something and was waiting for Eliot to say it. Then again, Eliot knew that the truth was a pretty big intuitive leap, so he figured that wasn't what he was fishing to hear.

"Look, man, I know that you got tested, but I don't need or want your charity, Ford. Lizzy will be here soon. I'll find someone else," Eliot said. He continued in his head, not wanting to really see Ford's reaction, _and if this is how I die, so be it._

Looking back toward him, he could tell that Nathan was battling inside himself. There was a flash of anger there, before an instinctive move toward the flask he'd thought he'd hidden from Eliot's sight. The reaction had definitely not been what he'd expected, maybe relief or resignation.

Whatever it was, Nathan seemed to push it down and calm himself fairly quickly.

"You weren't surprised when the doctor said I was a match," Ford succinctly answered, but he was still digging. Eliot wondered why the man couldn't just leave it alone anyway.

"Why wouldn't I help," Nate said when he apparently couldn't hold in whatever was bubbling underneath the surface anymore.

Eliot needed to get out of this conversation. It was quickly heading in a very dangerous direction, so he spat Ford's own words back, "We're not friends, Ford."

The reaction then was instantaneous. Ford slumped back into the chair, before grabbing the flask in under his jacket and walking out the door. He looked defeated for a moment, and Eliot really couldn't figure it out.

Instead, he concentrated on his exhaustion, checked to make sure the weapons were in place, just in case, called an acquaintance to watch Sophie's back from whoever it was Hardison was worried about, rolled over, and drifted into a light sleep.

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed it and I'd like to say thank you to all of you who did the story alerts or commented. I appreciate it!**


	6. The Box of Mystery Job

Summary: Secrets have a way of making their way out into the open, even when they've been hidden by the best thieves in the world with the most amazing security.

Disclaimer: I don't own Leverage, can't even steal it (not Parker here), but I do plan on borrowing it for a bit since this mischievous bunny named Plot won't leave me alone.

**Small Note: You need to know that is actually set sometime after The Boost Job and remember that there is a concussion involved here, thrown out of a car and all.**

**Okay, so this whole fiction is my first dive into the world of Leverage. I'm working on characterization, or at least attempting to get it in the ball park. I really thought my biggest problem would be Parker, but I'm quickly finding that Sophie is my biggest issue. Either way, any suggestions for any of them are welcome. Like I said, it's my first venture, so definitely a work in progress here.**

Chapter 5

Parker stared at Nate, sitting at the edge of the bar with his fourth drink in hand. She had planned to go through whatever Hardison had found, just so she could get the information that her team was so obviously keeping from her, but right now Nate was her focus. He looked like foster father #3, who spent days and nights trying to ignore that the rest of the world existed. It had been one of her better homes, when he hadn't locked her in the closet and forgot about her for five days. It was five feet long, four feet wide, and seven feet tall, fairly standard for a closet. The lock had been…

What had she been thinking about? Oh yeah, Nate was trying to drink himself to death again. She really wished he'd stop that. If he succeeded, she wouldn't have him to pull her back when she was going to do something Eliot would call crazy or annoy him until he gave up and smiled. He smiled less than Eliot and that was saying something, even if they did have that same sideways look that stopped her in her tracks…sometimes. Nate was her rope, not letting her fall too far. Maybe she should try to do that for him too, but she's not so good at this. She wondered who the harness might be, but then settled on Sophie, Hardison, and maybe even Archie. It could be anyone but Eliot, who had his feet firmly planted on the ground, waiting in case someone had miscalculated the slightest bit, so he would catch them, any of them.

This was about Nate, though.

She pulls out the phone to call someone much better at helping in these situations, Sophie. Hardison would be next, because Eliot would just growl and turn over in his bed saying something was wrong with her to hide that he didn't know what was going on right now. She remembered that look well from the glass in the car as the car drove away from the grocery store, when she should have been waiting for her mom to come back. Sure, it'd been four days, but she'd been different since _he _died. He was confused and too stubborn to admit it.

They were all wrong and doing the wrong jobs. Sophie was being Eliot to her, while Hardison was Eliot to Sophie. She was being Sophie to Eliot and Nate, and now she was just confused. Sometimes, it was fun to swap jobs, but not right now. Nate needed to be Nate. Eliot needed to protect Sophie. Sophie needed to take care of them both. Hardison needed to find Chaos, and she needed to break into the hospital and steal a kidney for Eliot.

She left a quick message for Sophie about Nate, before scaling the wall outside McRory's and up to the window of the kitchen in Nate's apartment. There was one more thing she needed to do. She hoped Hardison hadn't found it, or if he had, he just looked over in favor of finding something to save their hitter. She couldn't lose them now, but she would if Hardison had found it and was waiting for the right time to let everyone know. She searched through the scattered paperwork from his research, thankful that he was messier than Eliot and left everything on the floor, target in mind. She'd steal it and then Hardison wouldn't have anything to back up his claim, if he knew, except the internet.

Well, crap, maybe she needed to be Nate now and figure out how to steal the internet. She'd have said Hardison if he wasn't the problem right now.

Everything would just be better when Eliot stopped playing hurt and get out of the bed. It would make everything work so much better.

Then again, maybe there was someone else who could help Sophie be safe and everyone else get back to their jobs. She looked down at her phone, knowing her speed dials by heart.

2. Hardison

3. Sophie

4. Eliot

5. Nate

6. Archie

Then, she pushed number seven and waited for the fairly familiar voice to pick up, saying hello. "We need help, Tara."

*LEVERAGE*

Sophie crossed the bar to find Nate nursing another drink, looking quite like he had when any job had led him even slightly toward Sam's death, and it was easy to see the parallels, even if the rest of the team were too blind or stubborn to mention it.

She'd convinced Hardison, using the slightest amount of neuro-linguistics to stay with Eliot and keep at it with the laptop. He was always better there, and safer. Despite the manipulation, though, it was for his own good. Hardison wasn't Eliot, no matter how adorable it was that he was trying to step-up when their hitter obviously couldn't.

"He's lost time," Nate supplied, and Sophie wonders to herself why that's such a revelation for Nate. Eliot was looking at them all like virtual strangers, despite the fact he knew their names, like he had back before they'd backed his play in Kentucky with the horses and his ex-something. She'd heard of them, but still wondered exactly what a promise ring made someone. It was one of those cultural tidbits that she stored away for use, but never completely understood.

"Yes, he has," she answered softly, watching him takes another sip, "but you knew that before. It's why you went to get a newspaper, to show him without hurting that pride he cares so much about."

She can see Nate thinking. She'd pointed out multiple times that it was his fatal flaw. Sophie reached over putting her hand over his, the one holding the alcohol, and gently pushing it back down to the bar.

"Eliot knows something I don't," he said, blatantly ignoring the brunette at his side, before mumbling, "it's almost too much to ignore."

"What is, Nate," Sophie queried.

"I need to get back to the hospital," he amended in a hurry, before promptly standing, pouring the rest of the alcohol down his throat, grabbing Sophie's hand, and leading her out to the Tesla.

"Will you just tell me what the bloody hell we are doing Nate," Sophie questioned again, not really expecting an answer.

"Eliot knew that I was going to be a match, Soph," Nate finally answered.

Sophie looked back at him before playing the scene over in her mind, remembering Eliot's body language, tone of voice, and the way his eyes kept darting to Nate, even before the doctor told them Nate was a match.

_Now who's conning us,_ she asked slightly bitterly, knowing she would never say it aloud, and watched the road fly by as Nate drove seventy miles per hour in a fifty-five zone.

*LEVERAGE*

Eliot kept trying to get the kid to leave, but Hardison simply sat, pecking away at the keyboard, again avoiding eye contact. He didn't know what was more aggravating, the fact that he'd just parked himself there and wouldn't leave or the fact that he was avidly avoiding even looking at him, but was hyper aware of every move he made toward the freakin' door, even if it was the bathroom.

He'd figured out a long while ago, despite how much he told them to go away, they weren't. Well, except for Nate, who hadn't resurfaced since he'd spat his own words back at him, and damn if he didn't feel himself want to go fix it. When the hell had that happened anyway? He was getting soft after only a few weeks with these crazy people, he thought, barely considering the possibility that it was something lingering in the back of his mind, like memories that just hadn't quite resurfaced.

He went still, again clutching a weapon he had stuffed under the hospital pillow, as he heard gentle footfalls slowly stepping into the room. He loosened his grip upon seeing the ever-familiar brunette and her disapproving glare, box in hand.

"What did you do this time," she asked, not even attempting to disguise the anger and concern in her voice, pulling Hardison away from whatever computer nonsense he was doing to dart his eyes back and forth between the hitter and the unknown female glaring intensely at the patient.

"Car wreck," Eliot said simply.

"Of course," the girl responded, sarcasm apparent in her voice.

"Apparently, need a transplant," Eliot continued, ignoring the tone, well used to his sister's condescension. She never had agreed with the violence he was so partial to using, said it was no way to get what you want out of life.

He could see that she was about to go talk to a doctor, knowing she'd get more information, even if it was misinformation, out of him than Eliot himself. At least, he had the forethought to give her his latest alias.

"Box, Lizzy," he commanded. She glared back at him, "what's so damn important about this old box?"

He didn't respond, simply took the proffered item, shuffling through it, looking for the one thing he would probably need soon. If Lizzy wasn't a match, then Ford was his only shot, and no matter how much he hated the idea of telling the man the truth about all of this, he was a survivor. He would swallow his pride and do what he had to do.

Lizzy walked out the door, down the hall to find a doctor, ignoring the guy gaping in the corner of her brother's hospital room. She wasn't particularly watching as she navigated the hospital, just focused on getting tested and pulling her bull-headed brother out of the fire once again.

She felt a body crash into hers, but muttered an apology and continued. She never noticed that something had slipped out of her wallet, onto the floor, and into the sight of a man she'd never met, but her brother knew all too well.

Nathan Ford picked up the small photo, calling out to the girl who didn't respond, before glancing at it.

"Emily," he whispered, only audible to Sophie, who stand right next to him.

"Emily? Wasn't that the name of the girl from middle school, you mentioned on the job with Stark," she asked, but Nate didn't respond, simply stared at the photo.

Both Sophie and Nate were startled into movement at the familiar shout of joy that usually signaled Hardison had found something.

**A/N: Before anyone says anything negative, I do like Tara's character, not as much as the others, but I do. Plus, they are stretched a little thin here, and no one is really talking to anyone. Hope you enjoyed it and I'd like to say thank you to all of you who did the story alerts or commented. I appreciate it!**


End file.
